This article was copied from MakeUseof because I felt it was useful to you. All credits, except for all the extra work I did, selecting, copying, pasting and slight editing, go to them.

If you (like most of MUO readers, I suppose) receive and send quite a few emails daily, you should be using Gmail for two simple reasons: it’s free and feature-rich.

One of the best Gmail features is the ability to create and use customized Gmail filters. We’ve seen a lot of possible uses of Gmail filters already including creating an automatic email response and setting up Gmail SMS alerts. But most often, filters are used to enhance productivity and here are three examples to show you how.

1. Maintain To-Do Lists

You can send yourself email messages and store them in a separate folder until the task is completed:

Step 1: Create a label to store the task reminders.

• Go: Settings -> Labels
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page, put the label name – TO-DO in our case – and click “Create”

Step 2: Create a filter for these messages:

• Go: Settings -> Filters
• Create the following filter:
  • From:me
  • To:me
  • Subject:TO-DO
• Click “Next step” and there:
  • check “Skip the inbox” (you don’t want them to get stuck in your inbox);
  • check “Star it” (you will be able to remove the star after the task is competed);
  • Apply label “TO-DO”

Now whenever you want to remember to do anything, send yourself a message with the task details and don’t forget to include “TO DO” in the email subject:

2. Send Reminders to Others

This one is particularly useful if you have a few people (freelancers, partners, writers, etc) you manage. You can send reminders all of them automatically.

There are two possible options to do that:

Option #1
Follow all the steps in tip 1 above but:

• Instead of filtering messages with TO-DO, filter those that have “reminder” in the subject;
• Instead of storing the messages in the TO-DO folder, forward them to the person you manage:

(Note: you will have to create a separate filter for each person you manage, there is no way to list two or more recipient addresses in that step as far as I know):

Option #2
You can set up email reminders in services like RememberTheMilk and then automatically forward them to the people you manage.

• First set up reminders within the time management service you are using – with RememberTheMilk this looks as follows:

  

• Then create a Gmail filter to forward the reminder to the person you manage (just like in the above step but set up the search parameters accordingly i.e. the forwarded messages should be sent from the time management tool you are using):

  

3. Filter Google Calendar Events

You can organize your Google Calendar reminders more effectively by setting them up to go straight to your EVENTS folder.

Step 1: Create a label to store your events:

• Go: Settings -> Labels
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page, put the label name – EVENTS in our case – and click “Create”

Step 2: Create a filter to organize your events: set up all messages from “calendar-notification@google.com” to you to go straight to your EVENTS folder:

original article

Are you sick and tired of having a cluttered desktop? Are you waisting 2 or 3 minutes of valuable time just searching for a particular file or program?

Well, there are many solutions out there. However, the latest and most efficient I have come across is the ‘FSL Launcher’.

Why is this so efficient compared to other products you might ask. Well it was Lifehacker who first brought this application to my attention.

The main purpose of FLS Launcher is to aid in accessing files, folders and applications. However, FLS does this in a way that is both appealing to the user, and easy to use, with its simple yet impressive interface.

What I liked about this application is its ability to group shortcuts. You can have many different groups, such as Programs, Games, Internet, Misc, Music, Movies, Utilities. . .  the list goes on. Simply put you create whatever group names you want, then they appear as tabs which you can simply switch between. Once the groups have been made you can then add shortcuts for anything you want, any files, folders, and applications.

If you wish, you can then back up these groups and shortcuts to a portable drive and restore them if for some reason you need to re install your OS, or you un-install the program, and then wish to install it again.

FLS launcher can be launched by clicking on the system tray icon or by simply  moving your mouse to the upper left corner of the screen.

There is also a donation version available, but most of the features are in the free version. The donation version adds in keyboard shortcuts and some customization options, but most users will find the free version more than enough.

Don’ t write it off as just another app manager. This has some serious advantages over other app managers and is free. It’ s definitely something that is worth a try. If you don’t find it useful, you can simply un-install it. Nothing lost by just trying it.

You can download it from this link:

FLS Launcher



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